What Label Would You Love To Peel Off Your Identity? (Journal Prompt)

What is one label you would love to peel off your identity?

We reflected on this in our Journal Circle last week. To be honest, I struggled to answer the question at first, but our conversation afterwards opened up loads of avenues I have been thinking about since.

Someone described identity labels as being like sticky notes. They are not necessarily heavy or intense. But they can become itchy and uncomfortable. And when they build up, they can cover our skin, causing us to lose sight of who we are beneath, and they can suffocate us.

Which label would you love to peel away and leave behind?

What Sort of Labels Do We Wear?

We talked about some different sources of labels we might find associated with our identity.

The Labels We Give Ourselves

There are labels we apply to our self-concept. Things like perfectionism, being a people pleaser, being creative, un-creative, a technophobe, and clumsy are all examples of labels that can affect our relationship with ourselves. They can become self-fulfilling prophesies by dictating our decisions and responses.

The Labels That Describe Us

Some labels are things we have no choice about. Our immutable characteristics, such as sex, race, and nationality. As well as other things that are true about us, which we have no say or choice over. While these don’t define our personality, they can still carry a lot of weight associated with our identity in the eyes of others. This can also apply to things like a job role or career path we have chosen.

The Labels We Integrate From Judgements

We might pick up stories from other people’s judgements about us. Maybe someone called us a name or criticised us for doing something they deemed wrong. We integrate messages and turn them into stories we hold about ourselves through the eyes of others.

The Labels We Collect From Resources

Other labels we might adopt are those we use to understand ourselves. For example, we might identify with personality, temperament, and diagnostic labels like introvert, highly sensitive, ADHD, autistic, etc. Or we might align with a particular social or political position that describes our values, beliefs, and ideal vision for the world.

Over to You

So, which label would you love to peel away and leave behind?

Join Us in The Journal Circle

Fancy exploring more questions like this? Join us for 30-minutes on a Friday in our Zoom Journal Circle. Reflect on the week gone and think forward to the week ahead and have a go at our ’Question for the Week’. It’s a great chance to connect in a fun, low pressure environment with fellow Haven members from around the world.